The Mummies Museum in Burgio

Thinking of a holiday in Sicily, numerous places come to mind where you can stop: think of the Coast of the Cyclops, Catania, Syracuse, Palermo, the Scala dei Turchi and the Valley of the Temples in the Agrigento area.
Yet there are small jewels that may not be very touristy but which preserve their own character genuine beauty all to be discovered: among these there is Burgio, a small village in the province of Agrigento with a remarkable historical and artistic heritage , where the Mummies Museum stands out, a place full of charm and history that is worth visiting.

History of the Mummy Museum in Burgio

In the past it was believed to mock death by remaining in some way present in the world even for centuries: there was in fact the custom of mummifying corpses, as demonstrated for example by the famous Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo .

In Burgio there is the Mummies Museum, located in a Capuchin convent built on the remains of a sixteenth-century hermitage between 1634 and 1637: its construction took place at the behest of the bishop Girgenti Francesco Traina and was designed according to the aesthetic dictates of the order, described in the work "Disegno de Monasterii". After a long period of abandonment, thanks to funds allocated by the European Community, the church, the convent and the crypt which houses the Mummies Museum have been restored and brought to their former glory.

Le mummies preserved in the crypt have been cleaned and restored so as not to corrupt it Franciscan style native to. The method for mummifying the bodies is very detailed: the Capuchins in fact, once the bodies had been stripped, deprived them of the internal organs, had them purged on special strainers and then dried them. The bodies were then perfumed, filled with a kind of stubble and then replaced in their original positions (in some cases they were held upright using a stick).

Museum of Mummies in Burgio: architecture and works of art

Visiting the Capuchin Convent, next to which stands a bell gable , you can immediately notice the gable roof and, inside, a pleasant system of masonry trusses. It's impossible not to admire a series of paintings of the XNUMXth century , some frontals made of wheat leaves, paper and fabrics and a splendid altarpiece by Zoppo di Gangi depicting Jesus Christ placed in a tub filled with blood during his own crucifixion.

The church is at single nave : on the right you enter the friars' cells and the lovely cloister, while on the left there are the stairs that lead to the room below crypt . In this anything but macabre environment are found the 49 mummies , some placed in niches in the walls and others in chests, in the same positions in which they were placed here by their families. They are the mirror of times gone by, among velvets, lace, hats, shoes and other funerary objects from the period between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.

The surroundings of the Mummies Museum in Burgio

The Mummies Museum in Burgio is located just outside the village, worth seeing from its own Medieval castle built in the XNUMXth century, therefore in the middle of the Norman era and since MUCEB . The Burgio ceramic museum is an unmissable stop for those who want to learn more about the typical craftsmanship of Burgio, which has its roots in the 500th century.

In this regard, you cannot miss visiting the Caravella laboratory , where they are manufactured colorful ceramics since 1857: in addition to the most diverse objects scattered everywhere, there is also an old XNUMXth century oven.

Also unmissable is a visit to the ------ Mother Church -----, which houses a XNUMXth century wooden crucifix and a beautiful Byzantine icon, and to the baroque Church of S.Giuseppe, whose cycle of frescoes gave it the nickname "Sistine Chapel of the Sican Mountains".

How to get to the Mummy Museum in Burgio

L' airport Falcone-Borsellino in Palermo is the closest to the Agrigento area: from the Sicilian capital you have to take the SS121 until the junction for Corleone and Marineo.
Continue along the SS118 , on a highly panoramic stretch and then on SS188 towards Chiusa Sclafani, until joining the SS386 which leads straight to Burgio.